To Hold A Lily
by Yowane Laszlo
Summary: Al's new career as a rock star has left him with a broken heart. Hoping his tour of Japan and a reunion with his friend Gakupo will help him feel better, he never expects to fall in love. Least of all with his best friend's love.
1. Enter the Rising Sun

**To Hold a Lily. **

Author's Note: This story follows an American and takes place in Japan, so there's two languages to compete with. For the purposes of this, dialogue in Japanese will be italicised.

* * *

Big Al was sat down in the first class compartment on flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo. He hated flying. He ran his fingers through his brown hair, flecked with gray at the temples and he thought about what lay ahead of him. After the success of his recent cover version of Kamui Gakupo's number one hit single, "Dancing Samurai", his popularity in Japan had flourished and he had agreed to do a tour of Japan, starting in Tokyo.

His bright yellow eyes gazed out of the window; he was lost in a daydream. The flight attendant came over to see if he needed anything, but he waved her away. He hated flying so much. He was wearing a bright red shirt and baggy grey trousers and felt a little out of place with all the businessmen around him in their smart suits and polished shoes, one of which being his manager, Paul.

"So, where we headed again?" Al said to Paul, without taking his eyes away from the window.

"Japan" Paul replied without lifting his gaze from the papers in front of him. Paul looked every part the manager, sharp gray suit, slicked back jet-black hair and a face that never seemed to be without a pair of sunglasses, even on a plane.

"I KNOW THAT" Al snapped, leaning over towards Paul and baring his unusually large canines at him. Paul knew Al was going to do that, but still ended up flinching anyways. Al knew he wasn't going to get much more out of Paul, so slumped back into his chair.

Al was usually a pretty cheerful guy and his low mood today was out of character for the giant singer; in fact he was actually pretty glad to be getting out of the country. He thought back of his childhood sweetheart, sweet Ann that he was leaving behind.

"I'm leaving you" her words rang around his head. He thought back to her big blue eyes on that pretty face and her short curly blonde hair, her constant smile and the songs they used to sing together up on that hill back in their home town in Tennessee. He never thought she'd leave him, let alone believe that it would hurt him this much. Normally girls love dating rock stars, but she was a shy girl and couldn't bear the limelight that Al's sudden rise to fame had brought them.

"You really miss her, huh big guy?" Paul looked at Al over his sunglasses, his voice a tone of consolation this time.

"Yeah, we were together for a while, never saw it coming" Al's husky voice fell to almost a whisper and he began to gaze out of the window again. He studied the clouds and imagined himself and Ann frolicking happily through them like they used to run through piles of leaves in autumn when they were kids. Damn it he thought to himself. I just can't stop thinking about her. Paul seemed to read his thoughts and decided to change the subject.

"Have you been to Japan before?

"Yeah, two or three times, not many happy memories though"

"You speak any Japanese?"

"Yeah, not much mind, but enough to sing a song and get a beer; I do sound kind of rough when I speak Japanese though." Al lied. He was almost fluent in Japanese, but didn't like to make a big deal of it. But the change in topic seemed to ease him up a little, so Paul carried on.

"It seems like you've been assigned a supporting artist by the event organisers"

"Oh?" Al sneered with mock intrigue,

"A young Japanese artist by the name of Lily"

"Never heard of her." Great, thought Al, a gig in a new country and a nobody supporting me. Al fell silent again.

"No, I'll admit, I can't say I know anything about her either" Paul went on "She's pretty new on the scene", but Al wasn't listening. His eyes were closed and he was thinking about her again, sweet Ann, that slim waist, those blue eyes; Paul took a look at the daydreamer, sighed and pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose, then walloped Al on the head, Al recoiled and snarled at him, bearing his fangs at him again

"Snap out of it Al, I need your focus" Paul chastised him and pulled out some papers that had been given to him by the tour organisers and began talking to Al about his upcoming gigs. Al hated business talk so ended up zoning out and eventually he stopped paying attention to Paul and began running his thumb and forefinger over his right fang, as he was prone to do when he was bored.

* * *

The flight touched down at Tokyo airport and as the plane taxied Al began practising his fake smile for the cameras that would be invariably waiting for him in the airport; I at least shouldn't look depressed he thought to himself. He checked himself for a pen and realising he didn't have one, reached over and took one out of Paul's top pocket. Paul looked at him and rolled his eyes, he knew he wanted to make sure he could sign autographs, so Paul didn't make a scene. When the plane came to a halt, Al stood up, reached into the overhead locker and grabbed his trademark white and red leather racing jacket with the red "Power-FX" armband, (the signature of his record label), as well as his black flight bag which he put on the floor while he threw his jacket on.

It was a warm spring day in Tokyo and cloud cover blocking out the sun, but that still didn't convince Paul to take his sunglasses off. The two marched down the stairs at the entrance to the plane, bags in tow, and then climbed onto the bus that would take them to the terminal.

"You ready for this Al?" Paul checked in with him.

"Will a 'No' be accepted?" Al tried

"Not a chance" and with that Paul hurried him through the duty free section and out into the terminal.


	2. Violet Samurai

Gakupo Kamui always stood out wherever he went; he was tall by Japanese standards and had long, flowing, violet hair that came down almost to his waist. He wore a white martial arts robe and the katana at his waist marked him out as a samurai. So he kept himself hidden as best he could beside a pillar at the side of the terminal. His violet eyes surveyed the arrivals lounge at Tokyo Narita airport as he awaited the arrival of his friend.

Gakupo was a singer in Japan and had enjoyed mild success with several hits, one of which, recently covered by Al, had earned him the nickname 'Dancing Samurai' which was a name he enjoyed. He had waited patiently for almost an hour now and he was hoping to be able to get a quick get-away from the airport. For a singer, he was not very fond of crowds and detested being around so many people for so long. The terminal doors opened once again and he surveyed the people coming out, it would not be difficult to spot Al's tall and muscular frame, so Gakupo wasn't concerned about having missed him already. However, in this group of arriving people, he spotted his giant friend, and then despaired as a group of about 15 youths ran towards Al for an autograph and photographers began taking pictures.

Al beamed his smile to the fans and began signing autographs and posing for pictures, but quickly got moved along by Paul, who had spotted Gakupo standing to one side of the terminal. Paul smoothed his hair back and moved forward, guiding Al who was still waving at the group that had mobbed him and led him up to the violet samurai. Al returned his gaze to where he was walking and saw his old friend standing in front of him and the practiced smile gave way to an overjoyed grin

"Gakupo!" Al said and embraced his friend in a tight hug that was not becoming of a Japanese man

"_Thank you, Al-san, that's quite enough_" Gakupo said in Japanese, and prised his way out of Al's vice-like grip. "_How are you, my friend?_" Al cleared his throat and in his best Japanese said

"_I am well Gakupo-san, and how are you?_" but at that point Paul, who couldn't speak any Japanese, interrupted:

"Guys, this is lovely, but can we move on?" the truth was, Paul couldn't stand people talking in any language that he couldn't understand.

"Yeah, sure, I could do with a drink" said Al, then, turning to Gakupo "_shall we?"_ Without a word, Gakupo bowed and picked up Al's suitcase, leaving Paul to haul his own, moved outside of the terminal and climbed into a taxi waiting in a taxi rank outside the front. He loaded Al's gear into the back of the taxi and waited for Paul to follow suit, then the three climbed into the taxi and gave the driver his orders to drive to the hotel they had booked.

Inside the car, Al and Gakupo were talking about the past 6 months and their rise to fame, Paul, unable to understand a word they were saying, preferred not to get involved and made every attempt to avoid the samurai's gaze.

Al leaned over to Gakupo and enquired "_So I heard you have a new lady?_" Gakupo smiled a wry smile and leaned back in his seat

"_Not my lady yet, but soon_." Not content with Gakupo's avoidance of the question, Al pressed in further

"_Oh come now, you can't be that happy with her if you're not going to tell me about her!_"

"_You will meet her soon enough, my friend, sooner than you think. She'll be supporting you for your gig tomorrow night."_

Al's right eyebrow raised, "Lily?"

The taxi pulled up outside the hotel, the concierge ran forward to deal with the luggage. Al looked around at the Tokyo scenery around him, so many people crammed together, it was so busy. How do people live like this? He wondered. It made him think of his quiet little town back home and also of her. Al closed his eyes and thought of his sweet Ann back home in the quiet and wide open spaces;

"HEY! Knock it off big guy!" yelled Paul. Al snapped back to the present "I'll let you sort your own room out, I'll catch you for dinner" and with that wandered into the hotel.

Gakupo walked up behind Al, "_Have you still got it?_" he asked

"_I've got more than you can handle, samurai_" without turning to look at him

"_Come with me then, let's see what you've got!_"


	3. Sword Dance

The two climbed back into the taxi and Gakupo gave the driver instructions to head to the Dancing Samurai Dojo which Gakupo himself had set up in honour of his own excellent sword fighting skills and named it after the song that brought him the fame that, although he loathed, was now accustomed to. The katana that Gakupo carried around with him was not only his trademark, but a weapon he was incredibly skilled with and sword fighting was his own personal passion and would rather do that than anything else. Al on the other hand was an accomplished fencer and had participated in several tournaments and had tried out for the US Olympic team three years previously, but was forced to drop out after he injured his left leg training for it. That, he was forced to admit, was the worst moment of his life.

The two had met six years earlier at a medieval martial arts competition in England, in which Gakupo defeated Al after four minutes, and after the two became friends, admiring the other's skill. The pair always enjoyed sparring together and were particularly competitive, so Al had a rapier sword kept at the dojo for that very reason, although to date, Al had still never bested Gakupo.

After a brief taxi ride, consisting of bragging, challenges and pointing, the two arrived at the dojo and walked in. The dojo was a single, large room, divided into two rectangular fighting sections and a viewing area to the rear of the building. There were three students and an instructor talking on the sparring mat to the left, who paused what they were doing and bowed to Gakupo. Gakupo bowed back and watched his friend begin to loosen up his muscles and took his rapier from the display. The samurai himself then began his own warm-up ritual.

Al knew that he had never beaten Gakupo in a duel, but he'd been training hard and, being as competitive as he is, badly wanted to beat him. He drew his rapier, checked no-one was standing near him, then began practicing some of his moves, particularly making sure his left leg was warmed up properly, he didn't want to injure himself again.

The pair carried on warming up for almost five minutes, then grabbing some protective clothing and helmets, they made their way to opposite ends of one of the sparring mats. Members of the dojo had made their way to the viewing area, eager to watch their _sensei in action. _A referee stepped up to the mat and checked that both men were ready, both acknowledged they were.

Al was poised in a fencing pose, his legs spread apart, his right leg in front of his left, with his side profile offered to his opponent to make his huge frame as small as possible to hit, and held the tip of his sword in Gakupo's direction. Gakupo had a very different stance. He stood square in front of Al with his eyes closed and his hand on the hilt of his still sheathed katana. The referee began the fight.

Gakupo drew his sword in one sweep and ran straight at his opponent in a charge that Al had predicted his friend would open with, Al stepped to the side and parried the samurai's swing and attempted a riposte to Gakupo's face, but the samurai brought his katana up to block and then jumped backwards to put some space between the men.

Al regained his stance and side stepped towards Gakupo who was now crouched down with both his hands on the hilt of his sword. Gakupo looked up at Al then sprang forward, Al parried the swing, began stepping backwards and made a series of three quick, sharp thrusts at Gakupo's chest, but the samurai swung his sword with lightning speed to the left, then the right, then back to the left, parrying all three of Al's thrusts. It was Al's turn to jump backwards from the combat this time to put some space between himself and Gakupo. Gakupo MUST have a weakness, Al thought to himself but before he had time to think about it, he noticed a movement to his right, he took another step backwards to see who, or what, was moving next to him. With a quick glance he noticed a woman who had moved to the side of a mat and Al gasped at the sight of her. She was a Japanese woman, but had long blond hair that was down past her waist and blue eyes that were staring straight at him. Al noticed her slight frame accentuated by a tight yellow and white dress that left very little to the imagination and in the split second he stopped to look at her he felt a large pain in the side of his head and he collapsed, unconscious.


	4. Flashback  Greed & lust: Deadly Sins

Lily had always wanted to be a singer, ever since she was a little girl. The daughter of a wealthy American businessman and a former Japanese voice actress, she had always looked up to her mother and wanted to grow up in her footsteps, as a beautiful woman, with a fantastic voice and a legion of fans. Lily was a good singer and very pretty, her long blonde hair and blue eyes had always helped her stand out amongst Japanese women, but even so, she had never been accepted by any recording label. Groups of men gathered around a table would tell her she wasn't pretty enough, or slim enough and that she would need to be more beautiful before they would accept her as a singer. They feared that her mixed race heritage would put potential male fans off of her and reduce profits.

After the last meeting with a potential record label, she was reduced to tears by the taunts of the members of the record label and she ran out of the room crying. As she ran down the corridor towards the lift and her escape from the torment, she saw she was running into a tall man, dressed in white, who standing in her way. He reached out his hand and looked at her with his violet eyes and swept his violet hair back with his other hand. She gasped at the sight of him, stopped in her tracks and fell to her knees in front of him.

_I know you..._ Lily's mind screamed

"_It pains me to see a lady in distress_" Gakupo said, offering his hand to help the fallen girl up. He had never seen a beauty like hers before and although he knew it foolish to fall for a girl for her looks alone, he found himself unable to control the adrenaline coursing through his normally icy veins.

"_Thank you sir_" Lily started, taking his hand and rising to her feet. She recognised him instantly, _this is it_, she thought, _this is my chance! Could this be the moment I've been waiting for?_ It was not every day that a girl happened upon a singer of Gakupo's renown and Lily was determined to see if he could help her to the fame she so desired.

"_It looks like you need a friend young lady_" Gakupo continued, hoping to seize the moment with her. His heart was racing, he longed for this woman. She bowed to him and she followed him wherever he would lead. As they walked off her mind was a frenzy of activity as she thought of how she could turn this chance meeting into her chance for fame. She had no interest in the violet samurai and certainly didn't _want_ to use him, but she was desperate to follow her dreams and would feign feelings for him if she had to. _Was it fate?_ she wondered, _no, I control my own fate_ she thought, determined that she would go ahead with it, even though she didn't want to hurt anyone.

With her mind made up Lily went off with the violet samurai, never letting him out of her sight for a moment, playing on her perceived fragility whilst avoiding his lecherous advances. She saw him every day for the following week, telling him about her hopes and dreams and explaining how she desired to be a singer and a voice actress and Gakupo, completely smitten with her, took the bait and arranged for her to begin recording an album with his record label.

A week after their first encounter, Al had phoned Gakupo to tell him that he would be performing a tour of Japan when Gakupo seized the opportunity to throw his love into the limelight and win her heart once and for all. He arranged for her to be Al's support artist for the tour and waited for the moment when he would tell her.

When Gakupo wasn't around, Lily was happy, she began singing some of her songs and recording them, confident that soon she would release her album. Then she would have everything she always wanted and her dream would be complete. The problem was, now she needed publicity, if no one knew her name, no one would buy her albums. It was time to find Gakupo again and use him for one last thing. She knew he was always at his dojo training if she ever needed to find him, so headed there to find out how she needed to arrange publicity for her album. It was there that he told her.

"_My good friend Al is coming to Japan for a tour; this will be the ideal opportunity to reveal yourself and your album to the world_"

"_Well that's wonderful!_" Lily said, truly delighted with what she was hearing "_Thank you for everything Gakupo-san"_

But Gakupo was left seriously frustrated with this response. _Why won't she love me?_ he wondered, after all, he was rich, handsome and had given her everything she had ever wanted, but still, he was a very patient man. _I will wait until the night of her first performance, then, overcome with the emotion she will give herself to me_.

But Lily had no such intentions. She wanted to get away from him as soon as he could.


	5. Wake Up To Rivalry

Al tried opening his eyes, but to no avail. His head hurt pretty bad, pain radiating from his right temple where he had been hit. What the hell happened? he thought. He tried opening his eyes again, with a little more success this time. The light was bright and he groaned as he tried to come round.

"_Oh, I think our friend is awake_" a voice rang out, but Al didn't recognise it. As he tried moving, he felt something being poured into his mouth and, realising it was water, he lapped it up and felt its refreshing coolness invigorate him a little and he sat up. He took a look around and appeared to be in some sort of office, probably one of the side rooms in the dojo. He looked around and saw Gakupo sat at a desk on one side of the room and either side of him he had paramedics.

"_How are you feeling sir? that was quite a blow to your head"_ asked one of the paramedics, but Al's head hurt too much, he couldn't comprehend the Japanese.

"Uh, what?" he asked in English, with so much pain in his head he was unable to think of any Japanese words. He looked over at Gakupo who was staring at Al from his chair, not moving, not saying anything, but his violet eyes spoke volumes.

"_I should be ok" _Al finally managed to say and tried to stand up, staggered and propped himself up against a wall.

"_Well, I don't think he needs the hospital, he looks like a tough guy_" the paramedic said and Gakupo stood and bowed to them and the paramedics took their leave.

"_I could use a drink Gak-san_" Al said, trying to cut the tension between the two men, but he looked up and saw that Gakupo was already on the case, pouring some sake into small cups. "_You really got me this time, Gakupo-san, but I'm surprised, you don't normally attack the head, what brought that on?_" Al enquired.

"_You saw her didn't you?_" Gakupo asked coldly "_You were staring at her, you left yourself wide open to my attack_" Gakupo said, offering a cup to Al

"So, that was Lily then" Al slipped back into English, gladly receiving the cup and draining it in one gulp. Al tried to look at his reflection in the glass, but it was faceted and all he saw was 100 tiny reflections of his face.

"_Do yourself a favour Al, try not to stare at her too much, what is it you Americans say?'_Bro Foul'?" Gakupo continued and Al tried not to snigger at the terrible pronunciation.

Al wasn't quite sure where to go with this; this was seriously out of character for Gakupo. How much did he covet this woman? what could cause this?

"_Gakupo-san, with all due respect to you, I'm not going to fall out over some woman."_ Al stood up, took his glass over to the sake bottle, poured himself another glass and then drained that, before continuing "_She snuck up beside me, I stopped to look at who was there, don't take it so personally_" and without a further word between them, Al walked out of the office, out of the now empty dojo and went to flag down a taxi. His head was thumping hard, but the sake was beginning to kick in. Al climbed into the back of a taxi that stopped for him and gave him instructions to take him back to his hotel.

He put his head in his hands and through the thumping pain in his head, he realised how the ice cold samurai could suddenly find so much violent emotion. She was beautiful, more beautiful than any other woman he'd ever laid eyes on. But I won't betray Gakupo he thought to himself, he'd meet her tomorrow night and maybe the pieces would come together. He thought about his predicament, he was hoping that Gakupo's tranquil personality would help him over the emotions he felt from his split with Ann, but things were going from bad to worse.

The taxi pulled up outside the hotel, Al paid the fare and headed inside. He collected his room key from the reception and he headed straight up and into the en-suite bathroom to check the extent of his injury. Nothing too damaging to his looks, just a bruise on the side of his head. Nothing a bit of make-up wouldn't cover up. Al ran a shower and took his leather jacket and shirt off, headed to the drinks cabinet and helped himself to a tiny bottle of whisky which he opened and drained in a single gulp.

It's gonna be fun explaining this one to Paul he thought.


	6. No Chance Meeting

Paul had been knocking on the door to Al's room for about five minutes now

"Come on Al, I know you're in there" he yelled and banged on the door again "You're due for a rehearsal in like, half an hour". Al, freshly showered and in clean clothes, make up covering his bruise, opened up the door and walked past Paul, lost in his own thought

"Oh, Hi" Paul muttered at Al "Look, it's no good ignoring me, I'm here whether or not you like it and that's that"

"OH SHUT UP" Al yelled at Paul, baring his fangs and Paul did as he was told. Al was not one for raising his voice at any time, so Paul decided he'd just lead on, taking Al out of the hotel and in to a taxi, and gave the driver his instructions to take him to the venue where he'd rehearse before his gig tomorrow night.

Al sat there in the taxi, his mind was trying to process everything that had happened in the last 48 hours and Paul was happy to leave him to it. Was he really falling out with Gakupo over that girl? Sure, she was easily the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on in his life, but he'd only just broken up with Ann. He sat bolt upright, he'd not thought about Ann at all since he laid eyes on Lily. Control yourself Al! his mind chastised him, it's just a phase. I won't betray Gakupo.

The taxi pulled up outside the venue and the pair got out of the taxi and headed in to the venue through the backstage entrance, Paul walked off to find the arena manager and get the practice started and Al found his dressing room.

Al opened up the door and took his jacket off, unbuttoned his shirt and was about to remove it when a voice came from the side of the room. There sat on his dressing table playing with her makeup was Lily.

"_Don't treat me to a strip just yet, I'm not that sort of woman" _she said, looking over her makeup mirror, snapping it shut as she looked at him. She wore a yellow, white and black dress that bared her arms and her midriff and that stopped half way down her thigh.

"_Then what sort of woman are you, barging into my dressing room like this?_" Al demanded. Trying his best to keep his cool, he ran his eyes over her slim body and felt his passion stirring.

"_I didn't barge, The door was open and I let myself in, Al-san_" Lily stood up walked over to Al and ran her fingers over his abs. "_Seeing as we'll be performing on the same night, I wanted to see if you wanted to do a duet with me_" by this point, Al was beginning to sweat.

"_You're killing me, baby-cat_" Al started "_Don't you think you've got me in enough trouble with Gakupo as it is?_"

"_Baby-cat?_" Lily questioned "_I like that, and I'm not killing you, I like you too much for that"_ Lily looked into Al's eyes and ran her fingers through the grey hair at his temples and Al, who had been intensely restrained not to pull her close was making no attempt to stop her.

"_Why don't you write a special little song for us, hmm?"_ Lily continued "_But I need to start rehearsing for my show, so I guess I'll see you soon_" she took her hands off him and turned and walked away. Al watched her slim figure as she left, that dress sure doesn't leave much to the imagination he thought to himself. He wiped the sweat from his brow, sat down and looked around to see if he'd been left a drink. Nothing. Al turned and looked in his mirror and started talking to his reflection

"She's a lethal one, that kitten. A real assassin" he mused "Heh, Assassin baby-cat. That has a nice ring to it". Without thinking of the consequences Al grabbed a pen and paper and with his mind full of thoughts he quickly jotted down the first words that came to his head. It's not much he thought, but it's a quick song to keep her happy.

"Dammit Al, where the hell are you?" Paul's familiar voice rang out from the corridor. I'd better wrap this up quick Al thought to himself, this is going to be one heck of a night and I'm pretty sure Gakupo is gonna turn up. Al grabbed his shirt and ran out of his room to grab Paul.


	7. Nothing Rehersed About This

Al ran to the back of the stage where he found Paul standing with his arms folded, tapping his feet. Lily was on stage practicing one of her songs and the music was almost deafening from where Al was now standing. He looked on and watched her as she danced around the stage. She was now dressed in a sleeveless grey shirt, edged with yellow and a matching micro skirt over black hot pants. Can you wear any less legally in this country? Al wondered. He watched her provocative movements that she danced to the imaginary crowd, she ran her fingers slowly through her hair, then down her body and then bent down to run her hands over her legs as well and Al gulped as he watched. He was swiftly brought back into the real world by a karate chop to his head

"OW!" Al yelled "The hell was that for?" he shouted over the music

"Back in the room lover-boy, this is her last song, so you're on to rehearse as soon as she's done" Paul yelled back. Al growled and bared his teeth.

Al looked over to the other side of the stage and saw Gakupo watching and applauding Lily's performance and Al closed his eyes. This woman had driven a wedge between them and both of them were helpless in her power.

"La belle dame sans merci"

"Excuse me?" Al replied

"La belle dame sans merci, the beautiful woman without mercy" Paul repeated himself

"I don't know what you're talking about Paul, I'm just trying to set up a duet" and Al walked on to the stage and offered Lily the paper with his quickly written lyrics on them and Lily laughed at them but agreed to do them. Al instructed Paul to play a track that he had produced, and he was hoping the words would fit. We'll see he thought.

Al checked his headphones were connected with a "one, two, one, two" and the music started playing.

"_I won't sing this time Al, but let me control the dance here_" she said with a smile and Al knew it was bad news, but nodded anyway. He took another look over at Gakupo, but the samurai was nowhere to be seen. That's probably for the best, Al thought to himself.  
The music began playing and Al began improvising with the song and started singing, placing the words in with the music, then Lily grabbed his hands.

"_Time for me to take charge Al-san_!" She said to him and, still holding his hands, turned her back to him and fell back onto his massive frame, crossed his arms around her and began to run them down her body, Al carried on singing, but his heart was pounding. The heat from the lighting set was making them both sweat heavily and they continued to dance. Lily took Al's hands off of her, threw her hands around his neck and jumped up on to him, wrapping her long legs around his waist and he pulled her body in close to his and he span them around. Al's heart was set to racing, he could barely concentrate on his singing, he was lost in this girl's movements and he just wanted to hold her body close to his and not let go of her.

The song and dance was over too soon for Al, the music stopped and there was a round of applause from the production team.

Lily was out of breath "Well, that's me all done then Al-san, I'll meet you when you're finished" and she walked off stage and Al's eyes followed her as she went only to be interrupted when a piece of paper was shoved in front of his face

"Only a duet huh? Could have fooled me big guy! Now I know what you're so moody about at least, that was HOT!" Paul said and Al flushed red and grabbed the paper from him

"Is this my set list" Al asked him, trying to hide his now bright red face

Gakupo was beginning to lose his temper. _Damn that American_ he thought _he's going to ruin everything for me_ and Gakupo cursed the day he met Al. He stood at the side of the stage and watched as the giant made his way over to Lily and Gakupo turned on the spot and stormed off. _Why does she want to do a duet with him and not me?_ Gakupo felt dejected and he knew he was rapidly losing the girl he loved. _Enough, I have to settle this score with him_. Gakupo walked over to Al's dressing room, finding the pen and paper in the room, he wrote a note for Al and left it on Al's dressing table.

"_Let's see who's left for her to love when I'm finished with you, you American dog"._ Gakupo said aloud, consumed with hatred and he turned and left the room and the arena.


	8. Love and Loss

Al finished his practice set and felt pretty happy with himself; this will be a good gig he thought. He turned to look for Lily in the backstage area but he couldn't see her and he felt disappointed that she hadn't stayed, he just looked on as the backstage staff began clearing away anything that wasn't needed. Paul had also headed off to do administrative things that Al didn't really understand, but knew he had to do so he walked back to his dressing room to grab a change of clothes.

"_Leaving so soon?"_ he heard Lily's voice from behind him and he stopped walking. She was now in a yellow baby-doll style dress with a silver pendant around her neck and she came up behind him and put her arms around him. He turned around, still in her embrace and pulled her as close to him as he could and his yellow eyes looked deep into the sea of her blue eyes and those eyes closed as they locked their lips together in a kiss. Nothing mattered any more, not to Al. They opened their mouths and let their tongues tangle and Al felt his passion stirring and he pressed her up against the wall of the corridor

"_Maybe we should move somewhere where the sound crew are not watching us?"_ Lily said with a laugh

"_Sure, let me grab my clothes and we'll head out of here" _Al replied and he headed to his dressing room. He walked inside and picked up his clothes, then checked around the room to make sure he hadn't left anything behind and that was when he spotted a note on his desk, probably from Paul he thought. He picked it up and looked at it, it was in Japanese.

_Al, let's not let it end like this. Come to my dojo after your practice session and let's sort this out._ Al folded up the paper, put it back on the desk and closed his eyes. He could see Lily any time he wanted to, but he needed to sort things out with his friend before it was too late to repair their relationship. Al stepped back outside to tell Lily, but she wasn't there. What the hell? Al thought and he looked around for her, but to no avail. He looked down on the ground and knelt down to pick up a pendant from the floor. It was a silver letter "L". Al closed his eyes and with his mouth wide open baring his fangs he screamed and sprinted for the exit. Damn you Gakupo! What will this get you? I'm coming Lily, I'll save you. Al reached the exit and shoulder charged the doors open and there outside, as if someone had left it for him, was a fired up Honda motorbike. Al looked around, but he was the only one there and he knew Gakupo couldn't wait for him. He jumped on the bike and revved it three times, then put it into gear and flew off at top speed to the dojo.

As he rode, a million thoughts ran through his mind, why was this happening? He only came to Japan to get away from his memories of Ann, why did she leave him? He shook his head, he didn't know why he felt for Lily so strongly, or why Gakupo had become consumed by her, but he was going to settle this, once and for all.

* * *

Al pulled up outside the dojo and hesitated for a moment. Still sat on the bike, he knew what lay in store for him should he step in, but he thought of Lily and anger washed over him, he jumped off the bike and cracked his knuckles as he headed inside. It was pitch black and Al reached for the light switch and turned them on. He squinted as the bright light filled the room and he saw Lily tied to a chair against the side wall, her big blue eyes widened as she saw Al had come to rescue her. Gakupo was stood with his back to Al in the middle of the room. He said nothing, he didn't move, he just waited with his hand on the hilt of his katana. Al knew what Gakupo wanted and he took a deep breath and moved to the sword rack, took his rapier, unsheathed it and stood behind Gakupo with his rapier pointed at him.

"Time to end this crap" Al said in English and Gakupo turned to face him.


	9. The end

To my readers - I'm really sorry this ending is so derpy, but this took much longer to write that I thought it would and it ended up eating into my exam revision time, and now I'm in the middle of my exams outright. I know some of you are messaging me saying "You started great but now you're s***" and "you wasted my time" and I'm sorry, it won't happen again. I'll time manage better in the future, but for now I'll end this story with this. For everyone that has read this far, thank you for being patient with me, my next story wont take so long or have such a derpy ending. - Yowane

* * *

Gakupo didn't say a word, rather stood with his back to the giant fencer and kept his hand on his katana. Why had this westerner come and destroyed his dreams? Why wouldn't Lily love him after all he had done for her? He didn't care anymore, not for anything. If Lily wouldn't love him, he would take his revenge and leave. He listened in the silence to Al's footsteps behind him and he began to predict his distance. Closer and closer Al's steps came, then Gakupo decided he was in striking distance, he let out a roar the likes of which Al had never heard, unsheathed his katana and in one fell swoop raised it up in the air and brought it down in the direction of Al's head. Al had been expecting that and parried the blow with an upwards sweep and then thrust his sword three times at Gakupo, who parried all three strikes. Al jumped backwards to put some space between them

"_What are you planning on gaining? You madman!"_ Al screamed

"_You have shattered my honour, Gaijin"_ Gakupo replied coldly, not raising his voice. The two began to circle around each other, their swords pointed at each other.

"_Honour?" _Al scoffed "_You call jealousy, kidnap and intimidation 'honour'?"_

_"What would YOU know of honour? You know NOTHING!"_ Gakupo's patience ran out and he charged at Al and began his attack. Al deftly parried his blows, but was forced onto the defensive under Gakupo's relentless attack. The sound of metal on metal clashing echoed through the silence of the dojo and Lily, bound up as she was, could only sit by and watch her love fight for her honour. But Al had still not to this day beaten Gakupo in single combat and tears welled in her eyes as she watched each shot that Gakupo threw at Al, too fast even for Al to counter-attack.

Give me a break Gakupo! Al thought to himself as he watched Gakupo's movements. He needed an opening, a gap in his guard that he could exploit. Swipe after thrust after sweep came from Gakupo; his attacks were merciless and relentless. Make him lose his cool thought Al, he can't focus if he's in a fury.

Al jumped backwards and delivered a right kick to Gakupo's check, knocking him off balance for a moment, putting a little space between them. This is it, thought Al and began laughing out loud

"_Can't hit me Gakupo? Can't hit me? What's the matter? maybe you need a water break old man?"_ Al taunted, hoping to get a reaction out of Gakupo

"_Trying to make me angry Al-suke? Do not bother!" _Gakupo hawked and spat at Al then ran, full speed at the American, placing both hands on his katana he jumped into the air and with a massive sweep from right to left, he hit Al's rapier out of his hands, landing on both his feet, he brought his left leg up and kicked Al in the face and Al went flying backwards and landed on his back.

"_You never could have beaten me, why did you come?_" Gakupo spat as he stood above Al's fallen body

"_Does it matter?" _Al asked as he looked up at the samurai "_Because this isn't over"_

_"Isn't over? How cliché" _Gakupo said with a laugh "_And what makes you think you can beat me from down there?". _Al looked at the samurai and smiled

"_Because unlike you, I have friends."_ Gakupo's eyes widened and he turned around as a man in a suit and sunglasses ran out from the darkness and kicked Gakupo in the groin and the samurai screamed in pain and doubled over.

"PAUL!" Al yelled and took advantage of the situation as he jumped to his feet and with his huge right hand he punched Gakupo square in the jaw and the samurai collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"I found that note in your dressing room, I figured you'd be stupid enough to follow it" Paul grinned at Al

"By God am I glad to see you Paul" Al smiled at his friend and then ran over to Lily and began to untie her ropes and removed the gag from her mouth

"AL!" Lily yelled and threw herself at her hero. "_I'm so glad you came, I thought he was going to kill me"_

_"I wasn't going to leave you babycat"_ Al looked at her blue eyes, wet with tears, and he wiped them away and ran his hands through her blonde hair and he leaned forward and kissed her and she pulled him tight.

"I'll, erm, go and get the cops then guys?" Paul said and walked away from them. Al looked at Lily and smiled. He took her hands in his and placed the 'L' pendant he picked up off the floor earlier and placed it in her hands.

"_Thank you, this was my mother's_" she said and she took his hand and the two walked out of the dojo together. The sun was rising outside and they sat down beside each other, and she cuddled into him

"_It didn't matter where you were. I'd come for you. Babycat" _Al told her and closed his eyes as the sirens of the police cars came round the corner. "_I suppose we'll have to go to the station and talk to them for a while"_ Al muttered. Lily ran her fingers through his spikey hair and looked into his yellow eyes and said

"_It doesn't matter where I spend my next hours, as long as they are with you, Dancing Samurai"_


End file.
